Dance Festival

This is the whole group!

We took a cooler with grapes, strawberries and lots and lots of water.

The lace around the neck is a nice touch.....don't you think??? EEEKKK!

Notice the long sleeves and high neck. The poor girls were about to die in the heat!

The girls are both involved in the Dance Festival at church. For the past few months, they have gone to practices to learn dances that they will be performing at the end of July in the Tacoma Dome, along with about 1500 other youth from the Tacoma region. This last Saturday we attended a preview that was held at a high school stadium in Sumner. There were about 1/4 of the youth at the preview that will be in The Tacoma Dome. The youth 14-17 years old in our Stake learned the waltz and the 12-13 year old girls learned a cheerleading-type dance to the song "Momma I'm a Big Girl Now" from the movie "Hairspray". The Waltz dresses have been handed down from one Stake to another for years and they are truly hideous! Amanda was mortified to find that she was assigned a "gold" colored dress - but it actually didn't look that bad on her. Besides, when we were sitting in the stands and they were clear down on the field doing their dance - they looked really nice. (Distance is the key there....) The 12-13 year old girls had a cheerleading outfit sewn for each of them and they looked really cute in them. As I'm sure most of you know, Sam wearing a cheerleadig outfit is seriously not "her". The first time she tried it on, the look on her face was priceless and all I could do was laugh!!!

Andy and I both helped chaperone all day. Andy was in charge of a group of boys that were part of the waltz group. I was in charge of a group of 12-13 girls doing the "cheer" dance. All the chaperones had a sign to hold up so when it was time to gather them all up again they would look for their assigned group. It was a system that worked pretty well. Of course, as is our luck, yesterday was a blistering hot day. It was the hottest day we've had since Sam had the double-header a couple months ago and we were stuck outside in it. Only this time we had to stand out on the artificial turf on the field, which was AWFUL! Despite the heat, though, we had fun. I love being with the youth and watching them be with each other and having fun. I can't wait for the Dance Festival the end of July. It's going to be an amazing experience!

Jeeping

"Airing-down" the tires. She's getting to be pro at it.



Sam's making her own "fun" while waiting for someone to pull another jeep out of the snow.

This is who we were waiting for. The first jeep made it over the snow patch in the road - but the second one didn't. The second jeep started sliding backwards and was heading for the drop-off. As you can see, they hooked up the yellow strap and pulled him up back onto the road.

What a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier!

Andy, Samantha and I headed for the hills yesterday in the jeep. Everytime we go out in the hills, I'm reminded of why I love living in the beautiful State of Washington! Some of the rocky, muddy, steep, snowy trails we went over about gave me a heart-attack, but Andy is a very competant driver and I have every confindence in him. But it still about gave me a heart-attack!!! We met up with some other people and all went as a group, which is always a good thing to do. That way in case someone gets stuck there is another vehicle to pull them out. Anyway, here are some pictures from our fun day.

Drive-In Theater

One of the things we love about summer is going to the Valley Drive-In Theater. Sometimes it's hard to find a time to go, because we get home so late. The price of admission includes 2 movies shown on the same screen, which are (obviously) shown one right after the other. The first movie doesn't even start until around 9:45'ish and the second one usually around midnight or so. Anyway, last night we decided to go to the drive-in for the first time this summer. Since we get there so early (in order to get a good parking spot) we take books and magazines to read while passing the time away. We always wear our PJ's and take blankets and pillows to curl up with while watching the movies. It's fun to spend time hanging out, walking around and talking/reading before the first movie starts.

Summer is finally here.....

It's taken awhile, but I think summer is finally here. We had a couple of really warm days about 1 1/2 months ago, but it's been cold and windy with lots of rain since then. This weekend though, the temp hit 70 and there were hardly any clouds. Around here, when the temp hits 60 it's time to get out the shorts and at 70 that's a heat wave and swimming time!! Therefore, since the temp was in the low 70's this weekend, we headed for the swimming pool at McChord AFB. Samantha's friend, Bryanna, came with us and they all had a great time!

YEAH! School is out!!!!!

We are finally out of school! Today (June 13th) was our last day! The girls are glad they don't have to get up early for awhile, but they are going to miss seing their friends at school everyday. Amanda spent the afternoon with me running errands (ok - so that isn't a real great way to "celebrate" the end of school), but then she babysat tonight (which is one of her most favorite things to do). Sam was invited to 2 different parties after school today, so she had a busy/fun time with her friends. One party was from 11:15 to 6:00 and the other party was from 4:00-10:00 - so she left the first party an hour early and went to the second party an hour late.....what a way to juggle 2 parties. All-in-all, they both had fun "celebrating" the end of school. Since I work for the school district, I am about as excited as they are to be through with school. I will be driving an occasional field trip during the summer, and I have a few training classes to attend - but it will be so nice to have a break and spend time with my family.

Japanese Exchange Students

This is everyone that attended the BBQ.


Last weekend, the band program at the high school Amanda attends (Graham Kapowsin High School) hosted an all girls marching band from Japan. On Sunday afternoon there was a BBQ at the school. On Monday the exchange students attended school with the band members and went to classes with them. After school they all went bowling and then to the local collage (Pacific Lutheran University) and held a concert, combining both bands. I wasn't able to attend the concert, but Amanda went and she said it was amazing! This was a great experience for Amanda to learn about the Japanese culture. She had fun talking to them (or trying to talk to them....mostly using a lot of hand motions). She's been talking about them all week and their customs, etc.

Pacific Ballroom Dancing

A couple weeks ago the girls and I, along with my friend, Kim and her girls had a "girls night" out. We went to the mall to help Kim's daughter find a dress, ate dinner out and then went to see the Pacific Ballroom Dancing. This isn't something I would have thought of going to (or know about), but Kim told us about it and thought it would be a fun night out......and she was right! The costumes and dancing were incredible! Some of the songs took Kim and I back a few (or several) years......the first song/dance was "The Hustle". It was great!
I wasn't sure if the pictures would turn out very good, since the room was dark (except for the stage, of course), but they actually didn't turn out too bad. The first picture is when they were doing "The Hustle"!